Cocaine Blues

It's the end of the roaring twenties, and the exuberant and Honourable Phryne Fisher is dancing and gaming with gay abandon. But she becomes bored with London and the endless round of parties. In search of excitement, she sets her sights on a spot of detective work in Melbourne, Australia. And so mystery and the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse, appear in her life. From then on it's all cocaine and communism until her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.

Earthly Delights: Corinna Chapman Mysteries, Book 1

Baking is an alchemical process for Corinna Chapman. At four am she starts work at Earthly Delights, her bakery in Calico Alley. But one morning Corinna receives a threatening note saying "The wages of sin is death" and finds a syringe in her cat's paw. A blue-faced junkie has collapsed in the dark alley and a mysterious man with beautiful eyes appears with a plan for Corinna and her bread. Then it is Goths, dead drug addicts, witchcraft, a homeless boy and a missing girl and it seems she will never get those muffins cooked in time.

Masked Ball at Broxley Manor: A Royal Spyness Novella

At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles: A Hercule Poirot Mystery

Captain Arthur Hastings, invalided in the Great War, is recuperating as a guest of John Cavendish at Styles Court, the "country-place" of John's autocratic old aunt, Emily Inglethorpe - she of a sizeable fortune, and so recently remarried to a man 20 years her junior. When Emily's sudden heart attack is found to be attributable to strychnine, Hastings recruits an old friend, now retired, to aid in the local investigation. With impeccable timing, Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance into the pages of crime literature.

This Pen for Hire: A Jaine Austen Mystery

Smarmy personals ads. Daring declarations of love. Writer-for-hire Jaine Austen has penned them all. But when one of the love connections she made is broken up by murder, Jaine finds herself freelancing free-of-charge - and uncovering more than she bargained for…No one seems to need her help more than geeky, gawky Howard Murdoch. His request is simple enough: a letter proclaiming his undying love for Stacy Lawrence, a gorgeous aerobics instructor.

A Man of Some Repute: A Very English Mystery, Book 1

Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past. Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.

Lady of Ashes: Lady of Ashes, Book 1

Only a woman with an iron backbone could succeed as an undertaker in Victorian London, but Violet Morgan takes great pride in her trade. While her husband, Graham, is preoccupied with elevating their station in society, Violet is cultivating a sterling reputation for Morgan Undertaking. She is empathetic, well-versed in funeral fashions, and comfortable with death's role in life - until its chilling rattle comes knocking on her own front door.

Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel

Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.

Still Life: Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

The Bargain

A scientifically minded noblemanLord Alan Gresham is the sixth son of the Duke of Langford and, as such, has been allowed to remain at Oxford to pursue his scientific studies. When the prince regent asks him to debunk the "ghost" of a dead actress haunting Carlton House, he cannot refuse, and is forced back to the Society he deplores. But upon meeting the daughter of the alleged ghost, his calm, logical investigation is disrupted. Learns the breathless chemistry of desire.

Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

Gaius Petrius Ruso is a divorced and down-on-his-luck army doctor who has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in an inclement outpost of the Roman Empire, namely Britannia. After a 36-hour shift at the army hospital, he succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from the hands of her abusive owner. And before he knows it, Ruso is caught in the middle of an investigation into the deaths of prostitutes working out of the local bar.

A Spy's Devotion: The Regency Spies of London, Book 1

In England's Regency era, manners and elegance reign in public life - but behind closed doors treason and deception thrive. Nicholas Langdon is no stranger to reserved civility or bloody barbarity. After suffering a battlefield injury, the wealthy, well-connected British officer returns home to heal - and to fulfill a dying soldier's last wish by delivering his coded diary.

Publisher's Summary

1929: Girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty golden-haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous. Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self-preservation, decides to investigate - and promptly goes missing herself. It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It's all piracy and dark cellars, convents and plots, murder and mystery...and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.

All good books should have a little of everything - humour, fear, grief, relaxation and exhilaration. And this book has all those in spades.

I have to say, I've got a bit of a lady-crush on Phryne. She's the kind of gal you love to love. Wild and chic, tough and compassionate, feisty and laid back. She has a wardrobe I'd love to own; a collection of lovers I doubt I could say no to, a butler who makes cocktails I dream about tasting, but most importantly, she always gets her bad guy.

Considering the number of years over which the character of Phryne has strutted her stuff (from 1989 when Cocaine Blues was published, to now in Unnatural Habits), I am continually amazed at how true Kerry stays to her character. Very few authors have the ability to delineate such a clear and resonating character who is maintained in all their glory from book 1 to book 19; especially when the dates of publication span more than 2 decades! But Phryne is just as lustrous a character in book 19 as she was in book 1; not a jot of her wit, passion or intelligence has dulled over time. And while she has grown as a person, there have been no jarring changes in personality traits to disrupt the beautiful flow of the series.

Like many others, I was introduced to Phryne via the Australian ABC TV series, and as someone who has rarely ventured out of the classical literature and fantasy/sci-fi genres, these books have blown me away, and as usual, upon reaching the end of the book I bemoaned the need to wait for however long for the next to be published!

The content of this story line provided ample opportunity for Phryne's strengths and weaknesses to be amplified. With a darker tone to the mystery placed before her, and more at stake than just finding a killer to be brought to justice; the achingly intense sense of futility that Phryne feels as she works her way through this case is very poignant, and cannot fail to strike a sympathetic chord with the listener.

Stephanie Daniels is, as ever, the perfect Phryne. Just as Kerry has remained true to the Phryne character over years of development, Stephanie has also maintained such a solid consistency over the duration of the recordings that each character is instantly identifiable from book to book. She is a pleasure to listen to.

I heartily recommend this book - and if you haven't read the others in the series before it, you won't be disappointed with those either, and I do suggest reading them first. Although each book is a complete story in its own right, there are certain aspects of the storyline that carry over from previous books in the series, that although not necessary to the overall understanding of this book, will certainly enhance your enjoyment of it.

I enjoy mysteries, NOT thrillers, contemporary fiction, especially about diverse cultures, and sometimes history, if it doesn't involve too many dates. I often listen to a book multiple times, discovering unnoticed details in the retelling.

I had no idea what to expect with this book and was most pleasantly surprised. The concept is certainly new to me - a British aristocrat in Melbourne in the 1920s who apparently "collects people" and solves mysteries. There is a lot of potential in the premise and Greenwood takes full advantage of it. The plot of this particular novel involves disappearing women and the solution offers us, among other things, a visit to the Magdalene Laundries which were quite real in the 19th and 20th century (and mostly quite horrible.) It's a high compliment when a novel sends me off to research something just because it's so interesting. I was fascinated to learn about the laundries and spent a few hours on the internet researching them.

The plot involved the genuinely awful but also provided a nice balance of humor and detail. It was clever, complex and interesting and, while there was not much chance for the reader to solve the mystery, I didn't mind just letting the story unfold as Greenwood is an excellent storyteller.

Stephanie Daniel does a good job with the performance and I had little difficulty keep the characters sorted out.

I have every intention of revisiting the world of Phryne Fisher and her minions in Melbourne.

A smart, Agatha Chritie-esc series. Phryne Fisher is a well off, matter of fact aristocrat, who has acquired many important contacts and friends through her previous sleuthing adventures. Phryne is one of those characters that I wish I knew, she is a real pistol in this delightful book that offers a little bit of everything; suspense, romance, some off color characters, and a good, believable mystery.

In this episode Phryne is on a mission to locate three missing, pregnant girls who have all disappeared under similar circumstances. As her investigation proceeds she must go undercover, and while in disguise, she is aghast to come across some cruel and disturbing crimes being committed by some very unlikely characters. With the help of the law and her beloved, loyal minions, she sets out to thwart and arrest all nasty, extending tentacles that are attached to her appalling discoveries.

Stephanie Daniel is the ideal narrator for Phryne's character. Her other voices are distinct and create true personality and spirit for each in the vast cast of characters. This was my first in this series but look forward to more of her fun, fast paced mystery escapades.

The Hon. Phryne Fisher is a charismatic sleuth who takes on the criminal elements of early twentieth century Melbourne, Australia. She has her adoring 'minions' to support her, inherited wealth to ameliorate wrongs, and a uses her knowledge of the under and upper classes to fight exploitation and cruelty.

This book is not merely one of a series of highly entertaining, well written detective novels. Greenwood also uses the wonderful Miss Fisher to demonstrate, to expose, and fiercely and passionately condemn, past inustices. Unnatural Habits (delightful play on words there) reveals the existence of church organisations that have been tremendously cruel to women. This is topical as a royal commission into the closely related issue of child abuse in such institutions has just commenced in Australia (April 13).

Narrator, Stephanie Daniels, brings the many delightful characters to life and without doubt, reflects the very spirit of the author's goals.

My first Phryne Fisher mystery. Was looking for a good mystery series and decided to give this book a try. The main character is strong character in her mid 30s, living in Melbourne during the 1920s post WWI. Phryne has an odd collection of children and supporters who work with her to solve mysteries. This plot involves disappearing women and little golden-haired girls and touches on the Magdalene Laundries which are part of Australia’s history. Phryne Fisher a young Agatha Christie type sleuth. The writing is good, and the narration is well done. There is some action but not lots. I enjoyed the Australian landscape in the 1920s and I may go back to listen to some of earlier books.

I purchased this book when it was on sale and it seemed to me to be similar to the Maisie Dobbs series. I was sorely disappointed. Perhaps I should have started with the first book in the series rather than #19, and I wonder why Audible didnt put that one on sale? The story was shallow and poorly written, the only saving grace was the narrator who saved it from being a total waste of time, and the small details about the Magdelene laundry.

Instantly became one of my top five favorites in the series, along with The Castlemaine Murders, Murder on the Ballarat Train, Queen of the Flowers, and Dead Man's Chest. Bumped 'Away with the Faeries' to #6.I really like that the whole household is involved in this story, and eventually most of the ''extended family" as well. I liked seeing Tink again too. This story stretches Phryne almost to the breaking point by the end of the second act before the whole thing is finally brought to a satisfying conclusion.